Setting goals is one of the most important skills that high-performance successful people
develop during their journey to financial independence and freedom.
As I just said, “goal setting” is a skill.
This means that it isn’t a talent or something you’re born with.
A “skill”, is in fact, something that you can learn, develop, and master.
It’s nothing more than an ability that everyone can practice, in order to achieve success.
In this video, I am going to tell you how you can start developing this very skill and
why it’s so important.
I did some heavy research, and took advice from the most successful people all around
the world, both from the present and from the past.
And what I discovered is that almost all of them attested to goal setting as the single
most important skill they developed.
So important is this skill that almost all high-quality books talk about the mindset
of success, and how to develop this skill.
In today’s video, I’m going to share with you the best practical advice that I found
on the subject.
I highly encourage you to copy this advice and apply the lessons into your own lives
so you can realize massive success.
So why is goal setting so important?
First of all, why are goals important?
And why is everyone talking about them?
Well, here’s the thing.
Imagine you’re in your car, just driving around on some random highway, with your family
while on vacation.
You aren’t sure of where to go, but you want to relax and spend the rest of the day
with your loved ones.
At this point, you have two possibilities:
1.
Just drive around, and see where the road takes you, maybe it leads to somewhere nice.
Or.
2.
Decide where you want to go, and then plan your route to the destination.
If you choose the second option, you obviously have greater odds of getting to a nice place
and actually enjoy the rest of the day, while if you just drive around, you probably won’t
get anywhere.
And even if you do find a place, chances are, it would have taken you so long to find it,
that the day would be almost over and you wouldn’t have time to actually enjoy the
time with your family.
A similar logic is applicable to your life.
We all have a common goal in life: to be happy, which is the equivalent of “finding a good
place” in the car analogies case.
But here’s the question, what does being happy mean to you?
The Happiness Question.
What makes you happy?
Maybe you might not have the answer to this question right now, but for most people this
could mean: Becoming rich, creating a nice life for you & your family, it could be something
noble like helping the poor, or it could be simply living a relaxed life.
What does happiness mean to you?
Comment it down below.
Let’s assume and say that one of the things that would make you happy is becoming financially
free, which is basically what we teach you on this channel.
So, let’s say that’s your purpose, but the question now is; how do you reach that
objective?
And what are the goals that you need to set in order to achieve or get closer to financial
independence?
Goals are going to be your guide, it’s like a GPS.
They tell you where to go, if you’re on the right route or if you’re going in the
wrong direction.
If you’re taking notes, highlight this word: direction.
The Importance Of Direction
Knowing where you are going is more motivating than any motivational video that you’ll
find here on YouTube.
It’s so powerful, that it can be the difference between you achieving any goal, or you just
procrastinating on the couch, scrolling through Instagram all day.
So, this should help you understand why everyone talks so much about setting and having goals:
if you don’t have something to achieve; a mission for instance, why are you alive?
Why are you here on this earth?
Comment below why you are here on this earth.
So here’s the thing, there’s a big difference between having direction, having something
to peruse, and just setting a goal to feel better about yourself.
As crazy as this sounds, most people actually only set goals to feel better about themselves,
to feel like they’re getting ahead in life, while in actuality, they’re not taking any
action at all.
In order to ensure that you actually set goals that will help you potentially achieve the
said goals, and make progress in your life, I’m going to describe to you what a good
goal looks like.
First of all, You Have To Believe That You Can ACTUALLY Achieve them.
A very common mistake in goal setting is that people set only big goals.
We’re talking about things like “I want to make a million dollars”, “I want a
new house”, or “I want that new Maserati”, but that might be too far-fetched of a goal,
especially since they are probably the same goals you had 5 years ago.
The goal has to be realistic, and you have to strongly believe that you can achieve it
in the timeframe that you decide is plausible.
So Here’s How to Develop Achievable Goals Okay, so, now you know why goals are important
Let’s now talk about; how you set a goal and the step-by-step process to goal setting.
Let’s get into it, now.
Step Number 1: Look at your goal.
Look at your bigger goal.
Let’s take the example of financial freedom.
What is the first logical step to take in order to move closer to achieve financial
freedom?
Find that out and write it down because that’s exactly what your goal looks like.
In this case, it might be developing the business knowledge needed to start your own business.
If you don’t know for certain what the first step is, do some research.
Or, if you have the possibility, ask your mentor or someone that has already achieved
that thing.
I’m sure they’ll be more than happy to help you out and to guide you.
If you still can’t find what the first logical step is, just pick something that you believe
might be the one.
Even if that thing eventually turns out to be the wrong decision, you still made a lot
more progress and gained skills then if you just stayed stagnant.
Step Number 2: Set High Standards.
So, the purpose of your goal is to push you to be better and to be the best you can be.
But in order to get the most out of it, you need to set high, bodacious goals.
Now pay keen attention because, I haven’t said “unrealistic goals”, I said high-standards.
It means that your goal has to be realizable, but still, has to push you to do a lot.
If you set low achievable goals, you won’t give your best, while if you set big goals,
they will push you to do more, and even if you don’t achieve them, you will still have
done more than you would’ve done if you set small goals.
Norman Vincent Peale said “shoot for the moon.
Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
Step Number 3: Describe Your Goal In Detail.
Now that you know what your goal is, you need to describe it.
What does it look like?
What does it feel like?
What does it sound and smell like?
Visualize the goal and you attaining it.
You have to be as specific as you can, and the more time you spend describing and visualizing
your goal, the more motivated you’ll be to actually take action.
In fact, it’s proven that people will get much more done if they know exactly what they’re
going after.
If, on the other hand, you have a poor description and visualization of your goal, you will probably
not be as hungry to achieve it.
Visualizing the goal will help your brain understand what the objective is, and what
needs to be done in order to achieve that outcome.
Zig Ziglar Said, “You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win,
prepare to win, and expect to win”.
And it first begins in the mind.
In order to describe your goal with accuracy, try to include the answers to the following
questions:
Why do you want to achieve this?
Why is this important?
What does it look like?
What are the colours, the texture, the Shape?
What does it feel like?
What does it sound like?
Step Number 4: Set A Deadline.
In order to have a clear picture of where you want to go and where you should be and
also to motivate you day in and day out, the goal needs to have a deadline.
This isn’t meant to stress you out, but it’s actually meant to help you set a target
on where you should be, what needs to get done, and in what time.
A deadline will help you wake up in the morning, get started, and do what you know you needs
to get done, because your goal is detailed, and has a deadline that you’re trying to
achieve.
Step Number 5: Calculate Your Progress.
Now that you have your deadline, I want you to pick a pen and paper and write down what
you need to do every day in order to achieve your goal, and the estimated time it will
take.
Knowing how much you need to do and the time you have will give you a better perspective
on the progress you’re making.
Let me give you two examples to illustrate this point.
1.
A Money-Related Goal.
Let’s say that your goal is to save about $20,000 in the next 12 months, which could
the equivalent of the down-payment for the new house you’re trying to buy.
In order to calculate your progress, you need to divide your goal into milestones.
If you receive your salary; monthly, you might want to calculate a monthly milestone, or,
if you don’t have a regular income, for example, if you’re self-employed or if you’re
an entrepreneur, you might want to set weekly goals or even daily milestones.
In this case, let’s say you are a freelancer, so you should set weekly milestones.
So, you first gotta do some simple mathematics.
In 12 months, there are 52 weeks.
You need to save 20 grand in 52 weeks, this means $20,000 divided by 52, which is about
$385.
This is your weekly goal, so, if you do everything right, you should be able to save this amount
every single week.
2.
A Learning-related Goal.
There are certain goals that are less quantifiable than others.
It’s very easy to calculate the milestones for goals that have to do with money and numbers,
but how are you supposed to track your progress on goals that are less quantifiable?
The answer is actually surprisingly simple.
Instead of tracking your achievements, track your work.
Here’s what I want you to do.
First of all, estimate how much time it will take you to achieve that goal.
In this case, since it’s a learning-related goal.
Let’s say you’re just trying to learn a new skill, such as copywriting, in the next
5 months.
Great, now throw a realistic estimate of how much time it would take you to develop this
skill.
Let’s say you estimate 300 hours of learning and practising.
Here, it would make much more sense to divide the goal into daily milestones.
In five months, there are 152 days.
If we divide the 300 hours by 152, the result is about 2 hours.
This means that for the next 5 months, you’ll need to dedicate 2 hours of your time every
day to develop the skill of copywriting.
See how simple this makes it?
Instead of looking at a big scary 300 hours project, you’re just looking at a daily
2 hours little thing.
This makes the project less scary, and less intimidating and will make things easy.
Step Number 6: Take Action!!!!
Here’s the truth: all this wisdom has no purpose if you don’t take any action.
Getting started is the hardest part, but as soon as you gain momentum, you won’t stop,
and you’ll be in the zone.
It’s like the Nike slogan: just do it.
When you don’t feel like it, just get started, and trust me, you’ll probably get in the
zone and become extremely focused.
If you never start, it’s guaranteed you’ll never achieve anything.
Things don’t “just happen” you have to make them happen.
This is the mindset of high-level achievers.
So that’s it for the video, what do you think?
Are you ready to set and achieve your goals?
I hope you took notes, because all you need to do now is just do what I have taught you,
and you will unleash your full potential, and achieve impressive results.
Since I really want you guys to get the most out of this, I prepared a little PDF, just
for the Practical Wisdom followers.
It contains all that I have talked about today, in a short document that you can print.
All you need to do is fill in the blank, just as I described today, and then take action.
All you need to do to get that absolutely free PDF is to be subscribed to the channel
and then click on the link in the description.
This will take you to a survey we prepared.
The purpose of the survey is to get to know you guys a little better and to understand
how we can help you, and what content makes a difference in your life.
So if you can spare 3 minutes or less, check out the survey and get your free PDF.
If you found this video useful, leave a comment down below, and tell us what your goals looks
like.
Share your thoughts, let’s have a discussion.
Don’t forget to like, subscribe and share, and with that said, I’ll see you all in
the next one.